At some point in time we have all read books and wished that we had a means of holding the book open. Particularly when in college, holding a book open for studying or reading can become cumbersome when you are also trying to take notes or complete various papers. Another example of when it would be nice to have an adjustable book holder is when you are cooking. Cook books come in all different sizes from small thin paperbacks to heavy thick hard back books. It is very irritating when you are cooking to have to keep finding your page because the book will not stay open. It is also very annoying trying to get a small book to sit and stay open on most of the book holders that are currently available.
While there are a number of book holders on the market, they are not always the best choice. For example, most book holders are not portable and tend to be made of a hard material that makes them awkward to carry from place to place. Also, most book holders are designed to fit a fairly standard size book. Unfortunately, books come in a wide variety of not only sizes but thicknesses, as well as they come in hard back and paper back form. All of these variants make finding a book holder to accommodate all of these needs very difficult.
One example of a book holder that is described in Design Patent No. Des. 278,578 by Jensen. In this configuration, the book simply sits on the holder. This book holder also allows the angle of the book to be adjusted. However, there is no means of holding the book open to a particular page. Also, the size of the book could potentially be a relevant factor since there is no way of adjusting for size, but is purely based on the size of the holder itself.
Another example of a book holder is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,239,171 by Huls et al. This book holder is made of light materials and provides some flexible options for using the book holder. For example, it comprises a center leg that can be used to stick in the ground or sand (if you are at the beach) or it has additional legs that can be attached for reading on a solid surface. However, it order to hold a book, the book must be placed between a piece of plexiglass and a spring system allowing the book to be held rigidly in place against the plexiglass for easy reading. Unfortunately, in order to turn the page, the book would have to be removed from the holder, the page turned and the book replaced in the holder. With this particular type of book holder you also have the risk of the spring system getting stretched and no longer supporting the book.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,951,372 by Quigley is another example of a book holder. In this particular patent, the holder is comprised of a foamable plastic material which has been molded. It further comprises a series of elastomeric strips of inverted V-form. These elastomeric strips are used to hold the book in place and to keep the book open to the desired page. The particular book holder is also designed to be placed on either side for purposes of reading in bed, or it can be placed on the stomach or thigh or any other portion of the body depending on whether the reader is sitting, reclining or lying down.
While there are obviously a number of book holder options available including the standard holder that sits on a cabinet, none of these book holders address the need for a portable type holder that can easily be folded up and taken with one to another place. There are lots to places where people read books and/or study. For example, depending on your geographical location, you might like to read on the beach. College students seem to find lots of interesting places to study from the library to the student union. As books get heavier, the need for a book holder that accepts these books increases. However, the weight of the book holder, the ease of use and the portability of the holder must remain simple and light.